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101 Ways to Be F*ckin EPIC

101 Ways to Be F*ckin EPIC

1. If you want to build muscle, lift heavy
2. If you want to lose fat, tighten up on your nutrition. Stop thinking that circuits and conditioning will take care of it
3. Hit more mobility work, yeah, I’m talking about everyday
4. Stop worrying about what people think of you.
5. Don’t forget to use a training log to keep track of where you’ve been and where you’re going. Write you goals down in the log. Don’t forget to track sleep patterns, water intake, conditioning sessions, warm-up exercises…
6. Don’t forget to laugh and stop taking everything so seriously
7. The bench press is a great exercise, but it isn’t the only thing that builds a big chest and pressing power. How much you bench? How about how much you squat? How about how much you push on the prowler?

10. Stretch your shoulders and upper back every 20-30 minutes if you sit at the computer all day
11. Stop, and really LISTEN to your kids. They deserve your complete attention.
12. Do more single leg, unilateral movements

13. Don’t save anything for the swim back
14. Remember that good box jumps usually reveal good hip mobility, not vertical explosive power
15. Give hope to others when no one ever has
16. Knee pain? Work on the stuff above and below
17. Remember there is no perfect program, it should change frequently as you change
18. Drink more water
19. Shelter your kids as long as you can from the bad stuff in the world, but prepare them when they are ready to be strong, confident and self-assured when it is time for them to face it alone
20. 20 rep squats and heavy prowler will make you mentally tough

21. If your trainer has a skin tight under armour shirt and matching shorts, you’re probably not training
22. If you have trap bar deadlifts in your program, don’t neglect the hamstrings
23. You don’t need the fancy equipment to get strong
24. Realize the iPhone is better than the Droid
25. Show your kids the way through your actions
26. Youtube comments used to ruin my day and I deleted them, now I post them up for everyone to see, see Epic comment 4

27. Get good training partners, training partners that are stronger than you and never lose that desire to get bigger, faster and stronger
28. Never stop pushing yourself
29. Be smart and deload every 3-4 weeks (subject to training age of lifter)
30. Beanies don’t make you tough
31. Do more push-ups

40. Balance your pushing movements with your pulling movements
41. Stop being negative, instead of “Why don’t I have something?”, say to yourself “Why am I so good at working hard for what I want and achieving my goals?”
42. Don’t worry about other people’s PR’s, set your own
43. Remember, “You are the bouncers, I am the Cooler”

44. Be the best part of someone’s day
45. Squats – hips back, not drop straight down
46. Don’t have a prowler, push a 100lb plate across the floor, see Epic line 23
47. Slow down
48. Go to the park and hit some pull-ups and hill sprints

49. Go out and throw some med ball arounds
50. Go to seminars, conferences and clinics
51. Read more fitness articles
52. Train consistently
53. Roll on a lacrosse ball and pvc pipe, stop using the white foam roller biotch
54. Watch Pineapple Express 3x
55. More tension equals more strength, take the slack out of the bar before you pull
56. Give when no one is looking
57. Watch Spongebob

58. 1-6 (power), 6-8 (strength), 8-12 (muscle), 12+ (conditioning, endurance) – generally
59. Stop thinking people owe you something
60. Be humble
61. No, more humble than that
62. Push yourself harder than you ever have in your next workout. Don’t stop during your conditioning session until your lungs are burning out of your chest – Why? Because you haven’t in a long time.
63. Shoulder hurt? Move to a neutral grip, work on upper back mobility, stretch and roll the pec, lats and upper back, work on trap, serratus and rhomboid activation
64. Do more than the next guy
65. Sit back on the kettlebell swing, don’t sit down, you have to load the hamstrings, glutes and hips
66. Hit a full range of motion for strength training movements
67. Getting more mobile? Don’t forget to strengthen in this new range of motion

68. Send flowers unexpectedly
69. Don’t text and drive
70. XBOX > PS3
71. Don’t program an exercise or workout unless you know the effects of the exercise or workout. You must know the requirements to perform the exercise correctly. Have you tried the exercise? Can you teach it? Have you done the workout?
72. CAT – 50-75% of 1RM, move it fast
73. Bands and chains are NOT restricted to exercises performed with a barbell

74. Watch Road House, 23 x
75. Have you ever seen Deer Hunter, Jeremiah Johnson, Apocalypse Now, Scarface, Cool Hand Luke?
76. Best indicators in the gym? The ones that directly impact performance on the field? Which ones are they? Depends.
77. Read your email less frequently.
78. Don’t stop learning. The best coaches always try to get better.
79. Get respect, not money.
80. Spend time on the warm-up, it isn’t a quick arm cross back and forth before benching

81. Strongman training for athletes is great, but introduce it slowly and choose the right events
82. Strength training can happen with every tool on the market or with none
83. Color with your kids, ask them about their day, talk to them about their friends
84. Try to get 100 jumps with a jump rope without missing, try 200, 300…
85. Precede every row with a shoulder retraction, makes the exercise 10 x harder
86. Front squats and zercher squats to a box are great

87. Knee sleeves and elbows sleeves are more important as you get older
88. Remember, no one cares about your opinion, they only care about their own
89. Internet comments?
90. Do you have a dream? What did you do today to move closer to that dream?
91. Stop taking notes and take action.
92. Do pull-ups with chains
93. Fat Gripz are a great tool

94. Interact with other strength coaches in the field, hit them up on their site, email, skype, message in a bottle, Mike Tyson carrier pigeon
95. Don’t forget to say “thank you”, “yes sir”, “yes ma’am”
96. Power cleans are great with a barbell if they don’t irritate the shoulders and you have good form. If you can’t do them, use dumbbells, sandbags, kettlebells and work on your shoulder and upper back mobility
97. Watch a lot of tv? Hit push-ups, mobility, foam rolling during the commercials
98. Watch Bear Grylls and do 20 push-ups every time he eats some weird shit
99. Chaos training is important

100. The torso should be developed to promote stability and resist movement
101. Think about what they’ll say about you when you’re gone? What is your legacy?

Comments (62)

Posted by - phil
on February 25, 2011

An awesome, epic list except for #11. Brother Wease kicks Howard’s ass every day of the week. (Pretty Amazing that you could put up a list of 101 things and I find only one (inconsequential) thing to disagree with. Right on!

When I first started speaking at coaching clinics, an Olympic shot putter told me that people in the audience would think 3 things: You were great and taught them a lot, you reaffirmed that what they do is correct, or you are full of $h!t. You are never #3. Thank you for teaching me so much and for reaffirming that what I do with my kids everyday is the right thing.

Awesome post Smitty! Guidelines everyone should run with. Road House however needs to be watched at least 30 times! Maybe these should be thrown on the list,

” All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it’s absolutely necessary. And three, be nice.” -Dalton

James, I completely agree with everything Thib is saying. His statement

“‘m NOT AGAINST DELOADING WEEKS… However I am against pre-planned deloads with recreational lifters. You should deload WHEN YOU REACH A STATE OF ACCUMULATED FATIGUE. Not before that. If you deload before that you will simply “waste a week” by doing less growth-producing work without needing to do so.”

Is correct. You shouldn’t deload until you need it. Unfortunately, most recreational lifters, as a very general guideline, do need it every 3, 4, 5 weeks. They typically use too much volume, too high intensity, have bad diets, don’t get enough sleep, work too much, stress at home and with kids. They are never fully recovered. The deload doesn’t need to be “planned” but it does need to be incorporated (and understood intensity decreases, volume decreases, concentric-only movement, etc) when they “need” it. Thanks for the link.

This was the best workout article i’ve ever read. It gets tiring reading all these roid raging, meat heads talk about how big they are and how not big everyone else is. It’s nice knowing some people legitimately want to help!